Economic Development Zone of Hubei
Province. The new facility, scheduled to
be completed in the second half of 2013,
will be equipped with state-of-the-art
production and quality control capabilities, and house about 100 employees.
The facility is expected to double Grace’s
regional production capacity for specialty waterproofing products sold to
Chinese customers and exported to the
rest of Asia, Latin America and other
fast-growing emerging markets. Grace
China Ltd. was founded in 1986 as the
first wholly foreign-owned company to
do business in the People’s Republic of
China—through its can sealants plant located in Shanghai. Currently, Grace operates six manufacturing facilities, four
sales offices and four technical service
centers in China.
GreenVolts to use Henkel’s
Aquence coatings to protect its
CPV solar equipment from
corrosion
Henkel announced that its Aquence Co-
Cure technology has been selected for use
by GreenVolts, Inc. for its higher-per-
forming, lower cost protection against
corrosion and UV-damage in the solar in-
dustry. GreenVolts, provider of the
world’s only complete and fully inte-
grated concentrating photovoltaic (CPV)
solar system, and its investor and global
strategic partner ABB, a leader in power
and automation technologies, are the
first to use this process for solar energy
equipment. Henkel worked with Green-
Volts and leading paint and coatings
company AkzoNobel to customize a
process that layers Henkel’s Aquence au-
todeposition coatings with a powder top-
coat and “co-cures” them in a single
oven. This lean paint shop process, which
has been very successful in the automo-
tive industry, now provides solar compo-
nents with higher quality finishes,
increased durability, and ultraviolet pro-
tection for 25 years. Additionally, the
process reduces environmental impact,
since it contains no heavy metals or
sludge, and lowers water and energy re-
quirements. According to Henkel, most
solar equipment manufacturers use a
hot-dip galvanization process to protect
their metal parts. While industry-stan-
dard, this process has drawbacks. The
high temperatures can introduce stresses
in the dipped metal parts. These stresses
and any dimensional distortions can be
weak points in a system. Also, the galva-
nization process leaves a thick layer that
can be problematic for complex shapes,
especially internal cavities. For example,
threaded holes may reduce in size so that
bolts do not fit properly. The Aquence
process is more precise, and can provide
a smoother, higher quality surface for
topcoats and finishes the company said.
AkzoNobel introduces
Metaflex SP 1050 pre-treatment for aerospace
coatings
A new chrome free pretreatment for the
commercial aircraft maintenance market
is being presented at MRO Europe by
AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings. Under
the name Metaflex SP 1050 Pre-treatment, the chrome free, water-based
product is the most recent addition to
the Metaflex brand. Metaflex SP 1050
Pre-treatment offers corrosion protection through increased adhesion of paint
on metal, meeting the rigorous anti-corrosion requirements of AMS 3095. Recognized as a universal pre-treatment for
commercial aircraft maintenance,
Metaflex SP 1050 Pre-treatment can be
applied over several metals and composite. Furthermore, it improves adhesion of the paint system on rivets,
compared to traditional conversion
coatings and wash primer pre-treatments. A solution to simplify the aircraft
maintenance process, the system brings
time and cost saving benefits to the
paint shop and an innovative approach
to the way surface pre-treatment products are utilized in the repainting
process the company said. Reduced
VOC emissions by as much as 75 percent offer an additional advantage, resulting in a non hazardous, odorless
product. CW
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